And for extending [to all parts of the Confederacy] the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these Republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments which forever hereafter shall be formed in said territory; to provide also for the establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal councils, on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit: Article the First. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory. fines Article the Second. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law; all persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great; all shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted; no man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, ful1 pensation shall be made for the same; and, in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engage ments, bona fide and without fraud, previously formed. com Article the Third. [Institutions for the promotion of] religion [and] morality, AND KNOWLEDGE, BEING NECESSARY TO GOOD GOVERNMENT AND THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged [and all persons while young shall be taught some usef Zoccu pation]. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them. them Article the Fourth. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this Confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of Confederation, to such alterations therein as shall constitutionally be made; and a nd to all the acts and ordinances of the United States, in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the Federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States, in Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts, or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States, in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the Confederacy; without any tax, impost, or duty therefor. Article the Fifth. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and [authorize] CONSENT TO the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in THE said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincent's due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, and by THE said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post Vincent's to the Ohio; by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to THE said territorial line, and by THE said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line: Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan; and whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever; and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government: Provided, the constitution and government so to be formed shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the Confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand. Article the Sixth. THERE SHALL BE NEITHER SLAVERY NOR INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE IN THE SAID TERRITORY, OTHERWISE THAN IN PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES WHEREOF THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED: PROVIDED, ALWAYS, THAT ANY PERSON ESCAPING INTO THE SAME, FROM WHOM LABOR OR SERVICE IS LAWFULLY CLAIMED IN ANY ONE OF THE ORIGINAL STATES, SUCH FUGITIVE MAY BE LAWFULLY RECLAIMED AND CONVEYED TO THE PERSON CLAIMING HIS OR HER LABOR OR SERVICE AS AFORESAID.1 Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, RELATIVE TO THE SUBJECT OF THIS ORDINANCE, be and the same are hereby repealed and declared null and void. Done by the United States, in Congress assembled, the 13th clay of July, in the year of our Lord 1787, and of their sovereignty and independence the 12th. CHAS. THOMSON, Secy. APPENDIX II. ORDINANCES FOR THE SALE OF LANDS IN THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY. [IN CONGRESS, JULY 23, 1787, 1 Vol. L. U. S., p. 573.] (See Vol. I., The report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Carrington, Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Benson, amended to read as follows, viz.: That the Board of Treasury be authorized and empowered to contract with any person or persons for a grant of a tract of land which shall be bounded by the Ohio, from the mouth of Scioto to the intersection of the western boundary of the seventh range of townships now surveying; thence, by the said boundary, to the northern boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio; thence, by a due west line, to the Scioto; thence, by the Scioto, to the beginning, upon the following terms, viz. The tract to be surveyed, and its contents ascertained, by the geographer or some other officer of the United States, who shall plainly mark the said east and west line, and shall render one complete (1) Compare with the article of Jefferson's ordinance. See Vol. I., p. 133. Ordinances for the Sale of Lands, Etc. 619 plat to the Board of Treasury, and another to the purchaser or purchasers. The purchaser or purchasers, within seven years from the completion of this work, to lay off the whole tract, at their own expense, into townships and fractional parts of townships, and to divide the same into lots, according to the land ordinance of the 20th of May, 1785; complete returns whereof to be made to the Treasury Eoard. The lot No. 16, in each township or fractional part of a township, to be given perpetually for the purposes contained in the said ordinance. The lot No. 29, in each township or fractional part of a township, to be given perpetually for the purposes of religion. The lots Nos. 8, 11, and 26, in each township or fractional part of a township, to be reserved for the future disposition of Congress. Not more than two complete townships to be given perpetually for the purposes of a University, to be laid off by the purchaser or purchasers, as near the center as may be, so that the same shall be of good land, to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the State. The price to be not less than one dollar per acre for the contents of the said tract, excepting the reservations and gifts aforesaid, payable, in specie, loanoffice certificates reduced to specie value, or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States, liable to a reduction by an allowance for bad land, and all incidental charges and circumstances whatever: Provided, That such allowance shall not exceed, in the whole, one-third of a dollar per acre. And in making payment the principal only of the said certificates shall be admitted, and the Board of Treasury, for such interest as may be due on the certificates rendered in payment as aforesaid, prior to January 1, 1786, shall issue indents for interest to the possessors, which shall be receivable in payment as other indents for interest of the existing requisitions of Congress; and for such interest as may be due on the said certificates between that period and the period of payment, the said board shall issue indents, the payment of which to be provided for in future requisitions, or otherwise. Such of the purchasers as may possess rights for bounties of land to the late army, to be permitted to render the same in discharge of the contract, acre for acre: Frovided, That the aggregate of such rights shall not exceed one-seventh part of the land to be paid for: And provided also, That there shall be no future claim against the United States on account of the said rights. Not less than 500,000 dollars of the purchasemoney to be paid down upon closing of the contract, and the remainder upon the completion of the work to be performed by the geographer or other officer on the part of the United States. Good and sufficient security to be given by the purchaser or purchasers for the completion of the contract on his or their part. The grant to be made upon the full payment of the consideration money, and a right of entry and occupancy to be acquired immediately for so much of the (1) The grant of No. 29, for religious purposes, is confined to the Ohio Company and J. C. Symmes's purchase. tract as shall be agreed upon between the Board of Treasury and the purchasers. Ordered, That the above be referred to the Board of Treasury to take order. [LETTER OF CUTLER AND SARGENT TO THE BOARD OF TREASURY, DATED NEW YORK, JULY 26, 1787, 1 Vol. L. U. S., p. 491.] We observe by the act of the 23d instant, that your honorable board is authorized to enter into a contract for the sale of a tract of land therein described, on certain conditions expressed in the act. As we suppose this measure has been adopted in consequence of proposals made by us in behalf of ourselves and associates, to a committee of Congress, we beg leave to inform you that we are ready to enter into a contract for the purchase of the lands described in the act, provided you can conceive yourselves authorized to admit of the following conditions, which, in some degree, vary from the report of the committee, viz.: The subordinate surveys shall be completed as mentioned in the act, unless the frequency of Indian irruptions may render the same impracticable without a heavy expense to the company. The mode of payment we propose is, half a million of dollars when the contract is executed; another half a million, when the tract, as described, is surveyed by the proper officer of the United States; and the remainder in six equal payments, computed from the date of the second payment. The lands assigned for the establishment of a university, to be as nearly as possible in the center of the first million and a half of acres we shall pay for; for to fix it in the center of the proposed purchase, might too long defer the establishment. When the second payment is made, the purchasers will receive a deed for as great a quantity of land as a million of dollars shall pay for, at the price agreed on; after which we will agree not to receive any further deeds for any of the lands purchased, only at such periods, and on such conditions, as may be agreed on betwixt the board and the purchasers. As to the security, which the act says shall be good and sufficient, we are unable to determine what those terms may mean, in the contemplation of Congress, or of your honorable board; we shall, there fore, only observe, that our private fortunes, and that of most of our associates, being embarked in the support of the purchase, it is not pos sible for us to offer any adequate security, but that of the land itself, as is usual in great land purchases. We will agree so to regulate the contract that we shall never be entitled to a right of entry or occupancy but on lands actually paid for, nor receive any deeds till our payments amount to a million of dol lars, and then only in proportion to such payment. The advance we |